Gamer : The Hard Mode
by LocoTock
Summary: The quirk he received from All Might manifested in a different way than Izuku expected. With a quirk that forces him to use his mind just as much as his body, he will have to work harder than any of his peers to prove himself their equal.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Greetings. This is my take on the Gamer quirk. See the end of the chapter for important details.**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own My Hero Academia or The Gamer manga.**

* * *

Izuku was kneeling on the ground panting. In front of him was the garbage that he was supposed to clear up. Looking behind him, he smiled at the portion of the beach that he had cleaned. After working tirelessly for the past six months, he had cleaned farther than he had hoped he could.

" _At this rate I'll be done before the entrance exam._ "

The sun had started to go down, giving him a glimpse of how the beach would look after he was done. He wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead and stood up. All that training had started to have an effect of his body and he could feel it as he stretched to clear the ache in his muscles.

"Midoriya, come here," called a voice. Izuku turned around to smile at the sickly man behind him. All Might came to observe his training almost every day. While initially he had actively participated in Izuku's training, shouting encouraging words whenever his trainee was showing low progress, or giving him tips to move heavy objects, now the man was content to stand afar and observe Izuku, confident enough in the boy's ability to carry out his given task without hurting himself.

"I'm almost done for the day All Might. Just a few more things to move," said Izuku as he walked towards his mentor.

All Might shook his head. "No that's enough for today," he said.

Izuku frowned. All Might never stopped his training short, even when he could see that Izuku was clearly exhausted in the past.

"You've done well Izuku, far better than I had hoped. I hadn't expected you to clean up this much in such a short time," he said with a smile, "You're ready."

Izuku did not fully comprehend his words for a few seconds, "W-Wait what?"

All Might laughed at the boy's wide eyed stare, "The entire point of this exercise was to toughen your body up to handle my Superpower quirk. I think you can handle the strain on your body now without hurting yourself."

Izuku was suddenly nervous. He had not expected to receive the quirk so soon. He had started sweating again and this time, not from physical exertion.

"Are… Are you sure?" he asked, his breath quickening.

"Positive."

This was it, the moment that Izuku had waiting for his whole life, the one he had been training for the past six months. He licked his suddenly dry lips.

"So how do we do this?" he asked.

All Might reached into his head and held out something for Izuku to take. He squinted at the thin object in the older man's hand and realized that it was a strand of hair.

"Eat this."

* * *

For three days nothing had happened and in that time Izuku had quickly begun to lose hope. He had voiced his concern to All Might numerous times in the short span.

"It takes time for your body to adjust and develop the quirk Izuku. It took me two days," All Might had said. But it had been almost twice that and still nothing had happened to Izuku.

He continued to train at the beach despite his worries, clinging to All Might's words. As usual, he went to the beach after school, stretched as per his training regime, and continued to clean up the trash. Every time he moved a heavy tire or a fridge, he desperately hoped that it would become spontaneously easier, that All Might's quirk would finally manifest in his body. Yet by the end of the day it still hadn't gotten easier. Not even a faint trace of All Might's quirk had appeared and Izuku wiped away his tears in frustration.

His mother had noticed his disappointed look during dinner and had started worrying.

"What's wrong Izuku? Is everything all right," she asked.

"Yeah mom. Just stressed about the exam, that's all," he replied.

By the fifth day, he had completely given up despite reassurances from All Might.

" _Maybe it wasn't meant for me after all,_ " were his last thoughts as he went to sleep on the fifth day.

Izuku had a dreamless sleep that night and when he awoke the next day, the sight in front of him was not what he expected.

:: **Analysis complete. Congratulations!** ::

 **You have unlocked the quirk: The Gamer!**

He stared at the blue box floating in front of him for several seconds reading the lines over and over.

"What?" he asked, confused by the words in front of him. As if answering his question, the words in the box changed.

 **Having inherited a quirk from the pro hero All Might, your body has finished adapting to it. You will now live your life like a video game.**

Still not fully comprehending the words, he reached out to the box, recoiling as he felt his fingers tough a solid object. The physical contact shook him awake from his sleep muddled daze.

"W-What the hell? The… The Gamer?"

He threw the bed covers aside and got up, the box in front of his eyes moving along with him. He stared wide eyed at it, still processing the information as the box slowly faded from view. As the box disappeared, his eyes landed on the game console neatly paced on the shelf, having been left untouched since he started training. As realization dawned on him, a grin slowly started creeping on his face.

" _Could it really be happening?_ "

As his brain finally finished processing the information, he shouted for the only person in the house in excitement.

"MOOOOOM!"

A crash sounded from the kitchen and in a few seconds, his mother burst into the room with a frantic look. An apron was tied around her waist and she clutched a pan tightly in her hand.

"What is it honey? Why'd you scream?"

"I unlocked my quirk," he told her, barely able to stand still.

Inko's grip on the pan loosened and it fell on the floor. Izuku could see that she had stiffened, her eyes having gone wide in disbelief.

Midoriya pointed a shaky finger above her head, the grin still on his face.

"Midoriya Inko. Level 4," he announced.

"What," his mother asked in confusion.

"Above your head, there are transparent letters. Midoriya Inko it says, and a small diamond with the number four in it," he told her.

Inko was still staring at him in shock and confusion, staring at his excited face.

"It's my quirk mom!"

* * *

Inko's lip started trembling as she took a step forward, tears forming in her eyes.

She rushed forward and embraced her son, "Oh Izuku!"

After calming down, she had taken Izuku to the dining table, setting breakfast down in front of him.

"Are you sure about this? How did it even happen?"

"I don't know," Izuku lied. "I just woke up to see a box in front of me. It said that I have unlocked my quirk, The Gamer."

"The Gamer," Inko asked, still not completely understanding his words.

"It's just like those video games that I play. I guess I'm like a video game character now. I don't completely know about it yet."

Inko chuckled and shook her head. "Figures. With all that time you spend on those silly games, no wonder this happened," she said. "Why now though? Aren't quirks supposed to show when you're very young? I mean, you're almost out of high school."

Izuku shrugged and looked down. He hated lying to his mother but he had promised All Might that he wouldn't reveal the secret even to her.

"Well why don't you stay at home today? We'll figure out what your quirk can do," she suggested. Izuku grinned and nodded rapidly, glad that his mother had let him skip school.

After breakfast, he had sat down and started thinking. His mother sat with him, not being able to provide any input at the moment.

"So my quirk turned my life into a quirk. First I gotta figure out how it affects me. Does it make any changes physically or does it affect me mentally too? Will I get any quests? What type of game character am I? RPG? Do I have any control over how I level up? Can I even level up? Wait, I can. Mom had a level displayed next to her name. What level am I at? What about stats?"

Inko looked on with a smile as her son rambled on. She had gotten used to this habit of his over the years. Izuku would always start muttering when he was in deep thought, usually to figure out the answer to a particularly hard answer.

" **[Stats]!** " Izuku shouted, startling Inko out of her thoughts.

"What?" she asked him. Izuku spared her a glance before looking back at seemingly the wall.

"Wait mom."

In front of Izuku's face was a box, displaying his stats as he hoped.

 **Midoriya Izuku** :: **4** ::

 **Quirk : The Gamer**

 **EXP : 400/1000**

 **:: Stats ::**

 **HP : 300/300**

 **STM : 200/200**

 **STR : 10**

 **DEX : 7**

 **INT : 14**

 **WIS : 16**

 **SPD: 9**

 **Unspent points : 0**

 **:: Passive stats ::**

 **DEF : 0**

 **LUK: 15**

 **:: Skills ::**

 **[Observe ] (Passive)** **Lv. 3/?**

"What are these?" Izuku muttered. "Hit Points and Stamina are easy enough to understand. I'm guessing the rest these are my physical stats. Strength, Speed and Intelligence are usual stats. Dex? Hmmm… Perhaps it's how flexible I am. WIS? Wisdom, maybe? What's the difference between this and Intelligence? Maybe their literal meanings? Maybe I can see what they mean."

" **[Expand],** " he whispered with a frown hoping that it would work.

 **EXP: Experience points required to reach the next level.**

 **HP: Hit Points. It displays your current health.**

 **STM: The stamina that you currently have to perform actions and activate skills.**

 **STR: Your physical strength. Directly affects the strength of physical activities and attacks.**

 **DEX: Your dexterity. A measurement of how flexible you are both in and out of combat.**

 **INT: Your intelligence. Affected by the knowledge you currently have. It affects how well you are able to retain information.**

 **WIS: Your ability to process the information you currently have. Affects the effectiveness of your strategies and the solutions that you come up with.**

 **SPD: Your movement speed.**

 **Unspent Points : Each time you level up, you acquire skill points to improve your stats.**

 **Passive skills: (Cannot spend skill points to improve upon level up)**

 **DEF: The amount of armor that you are equipped with. Reduces physical damage.**

 **Luck: How lucky you are. Unreliable stat and randomly activates. Not affected by any factor.**

Izuku grinned at the information presented to him. With this, he would be able to tell if the training the does affects him and by how much. He wondered how many points he would get upon leveling up. How had the points been distributed so far? Luck being his second highest stat seemed strange to him.

"Wait, 'Armor you have equipped'? That means…" Izuku's eyes widened. "Mom hand me something. Anything."

Inko handed him a spoon from the table.

" **[Inventory]** ," he shouted.

Once again a transparent box popped up in front of him but this time, the box was gridded and split into smaller squares. He quickly shoved his hand into the first box. Ignoring his mother's surprised squeak at seeing a part of his hand disappear, he looked at the text above the box.

:: **Inventory : 0.5/10** ::

The first box in the inventory now had the image of the spoon he had placed in it. Next to the box was a model of himself in his pajamas. It was strange looking at himself in a three dimensional model.

"So it has a weight limit."

He took out the spoon and looked at the weight again.

:: **Inventory : 0.45/10** ::

"So the weight includes the things I have currently equipped. How do I close this?"

With an experimental swipe of his hand, the inventory box disappeared along with his image.

 **+1 WIS for figuring out the basics of your quirk by yourself.**

Izuku raised an eyebrow in surprise. So he could increase his stats without having to spend skill points.

"Izuku?" He turned around to see his mother staring at him with a frown. "What was that?"

"Oh sorry mom. I was just looking at my stats. Do you know that I have my own inventory? You know, when I put the spoon in there?"

Inko shook her head. "All I saw was your hand disappearing up to your wrist; and what are these stats you mentioned?"

Izuku frowned. "How do I put this? Why don't I just tell you yours? They're easy to understand."

Inko gave a skeptical nod.

" _How do I even view her stats? Maybe it's that Observe skill?_ "

" **[Skills]** ," he called with hesitation.

:: **Skills** ::

 **[Observe ] (Passive) Lv. 3/? : Lets you view a person's name, level and stats. Also lets you view information about objects. Affected by your INT and WIS. Does not consume any STM.**

Izuku nodded in understanding. Unlike in video games however, he could not click buttons to use his skills. Verbal commands seemed to be working so far but he would have to see later if he could change that.

"Observe!" he called looking at his mother.

 **Midoriya Inko** :: **4** ::

 **Quirk : Pull. Allows her to pull small objects to herself.**

 **:: Stats ::**

 **HP : 300/300**

 **STM : 100/100**

 **STR : 6**

 **DEX : 4**

 **INT : 14**

 **WIS : 12**

 **SPD: 3**

He read out her stats to her and she nodded, though he could tell from the frown on her face that she hadn't completely understood. She was smiling nonetheless, her happiness obvious at him having a quirk. One thing confused him though; if his stats were higher than hers, then why were they on the same level?

Izuku was skeptical. So far, his quirk hadn't given him any skills that would allow him to be a hero. All that it let him do was monitor his stats and view others'. He doubted that he could pass the entrance exam with these alone. Perhaps All Might would be able to help.

* * *

 **A/N : So this idea has been rolling in my head for a while and here is the first chapter of a hopefully long fanfiction. My plan for this fanfic is to have Izuku set with limitations so that he would have to get create with the use of his quirk just like any other hero. Not every action such as reading or punching will become a skill and my idea is that if he gets a skill, it would be special in some way. So he would have a very limited number of skills and use them in different ways.**

 **The main reasoning for this was that he should not become overpowered too quickly. I apologize for not yet explaining his quirk completely but I would like Izuku himself to discover the usefulness and extreme limitations of his quirk in the subsequent chapters. Consider this game to be Hard mode.**

 **Also, there are no permanent pairings in this fanfic but fair warning; this will be an adult game and rated M for some suggestive themes. Hence the main reason for aging up the characters. U.A is something like college in this fic and Izuku is currently in high school.**

 **Comments and reviews appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: See the end of the chapter for notes.**

* * *

Izuku ran to the beach as fast as his legs could carry him, eager to tell All Might about his quirk. It was difficult to ignore the impulse to check each and every detail about the people on the street on his way here but he resisted it as best as he could.

His mother had wanted to take him to the hospital right away for a checkup but he had pleaded her to let him go; only telling her that he had something important to do. Fortunately, she trusted him enough to leave him be and he ran out of the house when it was his usual time to meet All Might

All Might was at the beach before him as usual, sitting in an elevated spot so that he could observe his trainee at work.

"All Might," he called loudly.

All Might turned around and upon seeing his face, jumped down to greet him.

"I take it the grin on your face means good news," he asked as he approached.

"Yup," Izuku said, still panting from the run. "The quirk finally showed!"

All Might took the time to look him over and Izuku checked above All Might's head.

 **All Might :: ? ::**

Izuku frowned at that. He was hoping that this wouldn't be the case but this seemed to confirm it.

"No injuries huh?" All Might asked, "So you can use the quirk without hurting himself?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I was just going to ask you," Izuku said. "I didn't get your Superpower quirk. I was hoping you would know why."

Instead of being confused as he expected, All Might just sighed.

"I knew this would happen. I was hoping that you would get a quirk similar to mine because it would be easier to train you."

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked. Was this supposed to happen? All Might folded his hands and sat down, gesturing for him for Izuku to do the same.

"As I told you earlier, my quirk has been passed down from user to user. The first user of this quirk named it One For All on account of that. However, when he passed it down, it worked in a different way than he thought it would," All Might explained. "You see, One For All manifests differently in each person. The quirk adapts to the user's body and life. I got the Superpower quirk because when I received One For All, I was already physically well built."

"So that's why you were training me this way. You thought I would get the same quirk as you," Izuku said in realization.

All Might nodded. "Exactly. Six of the eight users before you, including me, had different quirks. However, two of them had the same one. I thought if I trained you like this, the same would happen with you. It would have made training you easier." He shrugged. "No matter. What is your quirk?"

Izuku suddenly became nervous. Compared to his mentor, his quirk did not look all that useful. His mother was used to him spending a lot of time on video games but to tell that to someone else was incredibly embarrassing.

"My… I'm a video game character now," he said with a sheepish smile.

All Might tilted his head in confusion. "I don't understand. Can you elaborate?"

"Well… You know how in games you can see your stats, access inventory and stuff? I can do that."

To demonstrate, Izuku placed a piece of junk in his inventory and took it out. All Might was frowning at him.

"So… You can make things disappear and reappear at will?"

"Not exactly. You see in video games-" All Might held up a hand.

"Stop," he said as he rubbed his temples. "Of all the quirks you had to get, you had to get a strange one of which I have very little knowledge of. So you are telling me that you can do everything a video game character can."

"Well, I don't know yet. There are different types of video game characters. There are ones give you a set of skills, ones which allow you to develop your own skills, ones which allow you to define your character growth, ones which do it automatically for you, ones-"

"I have no idea what any of that means," All Might interrupted. "Tell you what. Why don't you continue your training and meanwhile, I'll look up all of that on the internet?"

Izuku nodded and got up while All Might took out his phone. Izuku continued training as usual, moving the garbage to the truck that All Might had rented out. It was only natural that All Might would not know much about video games. Not many people played them and a pro hero would be too busy to take the time to enjoy them, let alone the number one hero.

He wondered if heroes had time for anything else other than keeping the world safe. No matter the number of heroes, in a world full of superpowered people, crime was always present despite the best efforts of the government. It was the main reason colleges for aspiring superheroes had starting up, both to control the wave of rising crime and to reign in the number of vigilantes without proper training trying to help. More often than not, vigilantes ended up making this difficult no matter their intentions.

Izuku tried to figure out if his quirk could be used for anything else other that what he already knew so far. With **[Observe]** being his only skill so far, there was not a lot of thing he could do. Inventory was pretty helpful though. He could place small pieces of trash in his inventory and carry the heavier things in his arms. Curious, he experimented with it.

 **:: Inventory : 11/10 ::**

When he tried to move, he noted that he still could be he actually felt the physical weight of the things placed in the inventory, the full weight. While this did not prevent him from moving completely, he felt like he was actually carrying all that weight, only it was distributed throughout his body instead of just his arms.

 **Broken fridge**

 **Worn sofa**

That was the best he could get out of objects using **[Observe]**. It was not as useful as when he used it on people. Perhaps it would work differently on different objects? He would have to check later. It was well after dusk that All Might called him, seemingly done with his research.

"I learned what I could for now," All Might said. "Surprisingly, game mechanics are more complex than I thought. Now, what is your level and mine?"

"I'm at level four and I can't see yours. Sometimes, in games, you can't see another character's level if they're at a level way higher than you," Izuku said.

All Might nodded. "What about civilians? I'm sure you saw their level on your way here."

"Yeah. Most people are leveled between three and seven, some adults are at eight or nine. Though, some of their stats are lower than mine."

"You said something about stats before too. What are yours?"

"I have this skill called **[Observe]** lets me see other's stats. Not yours though," Izuku explained. He repeated his stats to All Might and mentioned the stats of some of the people at a higher level than him.

"Ah, so these stats have little to do with their level I see. Perhaps it is affected by some other factors, like their quirk, or this… Experience Points was it? You said most of the people at a higher level were older than you."

"That… makes sense." Experience Points were earned in games by doing quests, sometimes bland ones, sometimes dangerous ones. It made sense that in a world of quirked individuals; people would wound up in situations that would get them what would be in gaming terms 'Experience Points".

All Might was checking his phone and noted things down while conversing with Izuku. He chided himself for not doing the same. He had been so excited that he had forgotten about his usual habit of taking notes.

"From what I read, all video games have something called Heads Up Display. Do you have it," All Might asked.

Izuku blinked "I haven't tried that," he said. " **[HUD]!** "

Immediately, something appeared on the top left of his vision. He turned his head and it moved along with his movement. Frowning, he glanced at it by rotating his eyes and keeping his head still and found that he could view it just fine. He noted that this would not disrupt his vision while turning his head and he could view them only when he wanted to.

 **HP : 300/300**

 **STM : 180/200**

His **HP** and **STM** were shown in bars and as he watched, his STM turned **181** in two seconds and **182** in another two.

"Why didn't I think of that?" he muttered and All Might chuckled.

"So it can be activated at will rather than being present at all times huh? That's useful," All Might said, pausing to cough. "Now try turning it off."

" **[HUD] off!** " he called and his bars disappeared. Curiously, the name above All Might's head also disappeared.

"Wait, your name disappeared!" he turned **[HUD]** on again and the name appeared along with his vital stats on the corner of his vision. He tried turning it off and his vision cleared up completely.

"I don't understand. If **[Observe]** is a part of **[HUD]** then why was it there when **[HUD]** was turned off," Izuku pondered, frowning.

All Might nodded with a smile."This is good. It means your quirk is still adapting."

"Huh?"

All Might chuckled at Izuku's confusion. "You see, when I got my quirk I didn't have the complete strength I have today. It developed slowly over time. I was considerably weaker back then. Your quirk needs to adapt still. I'm guessing your quirk will continue changing in many ways to suit you for quite some time."

Izuku sighed in relief. "That's good to know. I don't have any skills other than **[Observe]** right now and I was afraid that I can't get anymore. It's pretty useless for a hero."

All Might waved his hand. "Nonsense, Midoriya. No quirk is useless. For a hero, it only matters how you use it," he said. "Your **[Observe]** lets you see a person's name right; even a stranger's? It could be used to single out a villain in disguise in a large crowd."

"I never thought about it like that," Izuku said. All Might would naturally have various insights to quirks that he could not think of. Working as a pro hero for so long had given the man a certain perspective that Izuku didn't yet have. He had been right in thinking that All Might could give him some answers regarding his quirk.

"Now let's talk about your stats themselves. I can't exactly say for sure but I think your **STR** and **SPD** are at this point because of the training I'm putting you through. Your **DEX** is low because I haven't put you through any training that would increase your dexterity," All Might explained."So this means your stats can be increased by training and not only by spending points."

Izuku nodded. "Yeah. My **WIS** increased by one this morning."

All Might coughed again and Izuku frowned at seeing a few specks of blood on the man's hand.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, it happens sometimes" he said, waving off Izuku's concern. "I can't help with your **INT** and **WIS** much but I can help you with your physical stats. It's a good way of monitoring your condition. How much **EXP** did you have again?"

"Four hundred," Izuku said. "I need another six hundred to reach the next level."

All might nodded thoughtfully. "Did anything you do since this morning give you **EXP**?"

Izuku shook his head.

"Then we'll have to experiment with that. It seems regular activities don't give you any EXP. That four hundred you have maybe because of your encounters with the sludge villain."

Izuku nodded. Everything All Might said seemed to make sense. From the brief time that he had spent looking up video games, the man had been able to figure out so much and had been able to answer many of Izuku's questions before he even voiced them. Izuku's admiration for him only went up. Analyzing a villain's quirk quickly could decide between life and death in a fight and as someone who wasn't known to lose any fight, All Might's ability in that regard was very good.

Izuku smiled, understanding that he would not only have to train his body, but also think like a hero in order to improve. He knew that he was pretty smart, his **INT** and **WIS** could attest to that. He would be lying if he said that he didn't feel proud of his intellect but seeing All Might take apart a quirk about which he had known very little till now was frankly both humbling and inspiring at the same time.

"EXP is usually earned through quests, right? Do you have any active quests," All Might asked.

" **Quests!** " Izuku called.

 **:: Quests ::**

 **[Clean Up!]**

Izuku touched only quest in the box in front of him and it expanded.

 **[Clean Up!]**

 **Clean up the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park completely before the U.A entrance exam.**

 **All Might tasked me with cleaning up the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park six months ago as part of my training to inherit his quirk. All Might rented a garbage truck for this and I have cleaned up about half the beach so far. Although I received his quirk, I still aim to complete the task and All Might seems to agree.**

Izuku was surprised at the words. It was as if he had written a journal and by the looks of it, it kept track and updated itself as time went on if the 'six months' was anything to go by. It had taken his thoughts and worded it to form coherent sentences.

He voiced all of this to All Might and the man smiled broadly.

"Excellent. This could be very useful. If your quirk continues to develop like I said it would then you'll have a powerful tool at your disposal," he said.

"How can this be a powerful tool," Izuku asked confused.

All Might sighed. "Young Midoriya you have a lot to learn. As you know being a hero doesn't just mean fighting villains. Often, it involves working with the police, solving cases, tracking criminals with clues and so much more. If your thoughts get structured automatically, you don't have to go back and review everything if you forget something on the spot."

As All Might kept talking, Izuku got more and more excited.

"Now, I may be getting too far ahead and I don't know how your quirk will develop but the few abilities you have mentioned have the potential to be incredibly useful and versatile." All Might grinned. "See? Your quirk is not as useless as you thought."

It was true. Izuku had never thought that something as simple as a quest log could be used in such a way. It made him realize something. Not all the useful aspects of his quirk were labeled as skills, with inventory being one example and this being the other. All Might was right. What really mattered was how a hero used a quirk, no matter how useless it may seem.

"Getting back on topic, I'm assuming you'll get **EXP** if you complete this quest," All Might said. "It's unfortunate we don't know how much you'll get though. One more thing, is your quirk voice activated?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah. I tried mentally commands but so far it hasn't worked."

All Might hummed thoughtfully. "Hopefully that will change. Now, this is as far as I help you."

"What?" Izuku started panicking.

All Might chuckled at the expression of Izuku's face. "Calm down. I meant that you'll have to figure out everything else yourself. I helped you with all of this so that you'd get an example of how to approach your quirk. The rest of it you'll have to think of yourself. In the meantime, we'll wait and see if there are any changes. Any questions?"

Izuku sighed in relief. For a moment there, he thought that his training with All Might would end.

"Yeah. Why is my **LUK** so high? I mean, I was born quirkless. That's not very lucky."

All Might thought about it for a few seconds. "Well you did end up meeting me and getting a quirk. Do you realize that the chance of that happening to someone else is very small? Granted, you did have to be attacked by a villain for that to happen," All Might chuckled. "Your luck was less than zero at that instant though."

All Might had an explanation for everything it seemed.

* * *

 **A/N : A chapter which gives a basic introduction to Izuku's quirk. I know it has been done so many times but I had to put it in here to present some differences between this fic and the Gamer manga. As you can see, Izuku does not have Gamer's Mind or Gamer's Body. I feel Gamer's Mind would deprive Izuku of one of his defining features in canon, namely his ability to think of solutions in incredibly tough situations. Also, calming him down in intense situations prevents his character growth in many ways is what I feel. As for Gamer's Body, well this** _ **is**_ **Hard Mode. So no full health regeneration upon sleeping.**

 **Also, stats and skills are in bold and in brackets even in conversations because frankly, I find it difficult to switch between mentioning skills in dialogue and paragraph properly. If anyone has any thoughts on this, it would be helpful.**

 **I know Izuku is smart but in this chapter, I felt that I could have All Might be presented as a mentor and as a professional hero at the same time while providing an insight to how heroes think. Hence the reason for Izuku not figuring everything out himself. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, Izuku has a lot of room to grow in both body and mind.**

 **Comments and reviews appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: See the end of the chapter for notes.**

* * *

 **+1 STR**

Izuku grinned at the floating box in front of him. This was the second time this had happened in the last week since he had obtained his quirk. By cleaning up the trash in the beach, he had started to acquire a solid physical build. He had actually started noticing it only after he acquired his quirk. Although it had gradually started to become easier to life heavier objects over time, he never really noticed the way it affected his body until now. He was glad to be slowly losing his scrawny build though it would be quite a while before anyone else started noticing.

Placing the broken television in the garbage truck, he wiped his brow off sweat and pulled out his stats.

" **[Stats]!** " he called.

 **Midoriya Izuku** :: **4** ::

 **Quirk : The Gamer (One For All)**

 **EXP : 400/1000**

 **:: Stats ::**

 **HP : 300/300**

 **STM : 200/200**

 **STR : 12**

 **DEX : 7**

 **INT : 15**

 **WIS : 16**

 **SPD: 10**

 **Unspent points : 0**

 **:: Passive stats ::**

 **DEF : 0**

 **LUK: 15**

 **:: Skills ::**

 **[Observe ] (Passive)** **Lv. 3/?**

He nodded, thinking of the progress he had made. In the last week alone, his **STR** had gone up by two and his **SPD** and **INT** had gone up by one. Unfortunately, his other stats hadn't improved at all and he had to admit that is was his fault. Ever since he obtained his quirk, he wasn't really able to focus at school, too impatient to get to the beach to continue training.

Done for the day, he sat and waited for All Might to show up. He had seen the pro hero only twice that week, the man being too busy to supervise him. Unfortunately, that left Izuku with very little to go on, having little to no idea how to proceed with his training now that his quirk had manifested. All Might's training regime was pretty good he supposed; it allowed him to develop his overall physical prowess. He had experimented a bit with his quirk and he was hesitant to try anything drastic without All Might around. Having had no experience with having a quirk, he was a bit clueless about how to proceed.

"Guess he's too busy today too," he muttered and stood up. Putting his shirt back on, he was about to head home when he glanced at something out of the corner of his eye.

It was an old washing machine; a particularly sturdy and heavy one. He had tried to lift it to the garbage truck a day before he activated his quirk but found it too heavy to move. So he simply dragged it out of the way and left it there, thinking he would move it when he got stronger.

He thought about it for a while and shrugged, moving towards the machine.

"Might as well try again."

" **[HUD]!** " he called.

 **Sturdy broken washing machine**

One unfortunate side effect of having **[HUD]** on he noted, was that it was too distracting whenever he was out in public. Names constantly floating above people's heads were strange for him to see and whenever he was in a crowd, a large portion of his vision was blocked even though the name boxes were transparent. So he always kept it turned off and activated it only when required.

Bracing his legs, he placed his hands on the sides of the machine and heaved. He hadn't really been expecting any progress but was surprised when he was actually able to lift the machine off the ground. Granted, he was not able to lift it very high but it was progress nonetheless. He noticed that his STM was steadily dropping the longer he held it.

 **HP : 300/300**

 **STM : 170/200**

He held it up for five seconds and spied the **[Vital Bars]** again.

 **HP : 300/300**

 **STM : 100/200**

He dropped the machine and frowned. That was a lot of **STM** consumed for a very brief time. He wondered if the **STM** drop would be lowed if his **STR** was higher.

"Another thing to talk to All Might about," he muttered. Opening his **[Inventory]** , he checked that his bag was in there and swiped at it to close. This particular aspect of his quirk had made his life significantly easier.

* * *

The next day at school, he turned on his **[HUD]** for the first time. Luckily, the teacher hadn't come in yet and the class was quite loud. So luckily, no one heard him call it up. He noted with satisfaction that all of his classmates were at his level or lower. Some of their individual stats were higher than his which wasn't too surprising.

Curious, his eyes zeroed in on someone who'd been pretty much ignoring him for the last six months; his childhood friend, Bakugo Katsuki. The blond haired boy hadn't bothered him much since the sludge villain incident six months ago, save for the occasional glare or shove he received. It was an improvement to the way he'd been treated prior to in the incident. Why Katsuki toned down his aggression towards Izuku he would never know; perhaps out of gratitude or simply shame because a quirkless boy had tried to help him. Katsuki didn't tell him and he was in no hurry to find out.

 **Bakugo Katsuki :: 5 ::**

" **[Observe],** " he whispered.

 **Bakugo Katsuki :: 5 ::**

 **Quirk : [Explosion]. Allows him to produce explosions from his palms.**

 **:: Stats ::**

 **HP : 400/400**

 **STM : 300/300**

 **STR : 17**

 **DEX : 18**

 **INT : 12**

 **WIS : 14**

 **SPD: 15**

Izuku frowned as he saw the stats. Most of Katsuki's stats were higher than his. The other boy's **INT** and **WIS** were the only stats that were lower than his but not by much. He could understand that a bit. Katsuki had been set on becoming a hero and he'd made sure that everyone in his class knew. It was only natural that his stats would be higher than Izuku's. He'd been training far longer than Izuku and it showed, both in his physical appearance and his stats. Nonetheless, it still stung Izuku to see the difference in their stats. He'd been working hard for the last six months and he only hoped that it would be enough for the entrance exam.

He narrowed his eyes, still staring at his childhood friend's stats. Those were the stats he should be aiming for, at least for the duration of his training with All Might. To do that, his current regime would not be enough. He resolved to talk to All Might about it if he saw the man that day.

"All right class, settled down!" his teacher yelled as he entered the room.

Izuku shook his head and turned his **[HUD]** off, intent on focusing in class that day, something he hadn't done in the last week. As he continued to listen to his teacher, he began to realize that he'd been falling behind too much. He chided himself for slacking off. Although unintentional, it would ultimately end up affecting his grades, which would in turn prevent him from applying to U.A due to low score. He sighed; he had some catching up to do.

"Oi, Deku!"

Izuku stiffened as the familiar voice called out to him. He slowly turned around; resigning himself to the inevitable bullying and name calling he was going to receive. It was too much to hope that Kacchan would leave him alone for the remainder of his days at school.

Katsuki marched up to him, the usual scowl on his face. "Where the fuck are you going?"

"Home," Izuku replied, getting nervous as Katsuki got in his personal space.

"Don't fucking lie to me," Katsuki shouted. "I know you don't go home after school! What have you been up to huh?"

"How would you know that," Izuku asked, careful to keep his voice low so that the other boy would have no further reason to lash out at him.

Katsuki hesitated for a second before glaring at him. "It doesn't matter. I'll ask you again, _what the fuck are you up to?_ "

Izuku faltered at his heated gaze and shrunk bank. "T-training."

Katruku bared his teeth at him, grabbing his shirt and pulling him closer. "Training? _Training?_ I thought I told you to fucking forget about U.A?! When are you going to get in your useless head that you'll never be a hero?"

Izuku avoided his eyes and looked down. He could feel the heat radiating off Katsuki's hands. "I-I'm not going to give up Kacchan. I'll be-become a hero no matter what you say."

Katsuki shoved him back and Izuku lost his footing, falling on his rear.

"Is this a fucking joke to you? You're qurikless! Stay down and do something else with your useless life."

Izuku risked a glance at Katsuki and immediately looked down. The other boy's hands were smoking and his eyes were full of fury.

"Stick to your fucking books and stay out of my way!"

Izuku expected a kick, more verbal assault, anything. When none of that happened, he looked up to see Katsuki already stalking away, shoving a bystander out of his path. He could see the anger radiating off the blond boy.

Izuku was, more than anything, confused by what just transpired. ' _What was the point of all that?_ '

Katsuki paused, looking over his shoulder to glare at Izuku again. "I'll tell you one last time. I'll be the only one to get into U.A from this school. So stop wasting your time."

He continued to glare for a few seconds, making sure his point got across and then marched off.

It was not unusual for Kacchan to pick on him. However, this time he was more subdued, limiting his assault and letting Izuku off lighter than usual. Getting up, Izuku dusted himself off and frowned at the retreating boy's back.

' _Six months and that's what you say to me? Why?_ '

* * *

Izuku stared at the sheet of paper in his hands, narrowing his eyes at the contents written down. Looking up, he saw All Might looking at him expectantly.

"Well, what do you think," All Might asked.

"A new training regime? Why," Izuku questioned.

All Might gave a sheepish smile. "When I started training you, I tried to tailor you to suit my Superpower quirk. Now however, hearing your stats, I find some things severely lacking in the training I am giving you," he admitted. "I didn't even consider training you to be more dexterous and your speed could use some work as well."

Izuku nodded. The new training regime included, among other things, long runs and sprints along the beach, something which he hoped would improve his speed and stamina.

"Do you think you can handle it? This'll be even harder than before."

All Might sounded casual but Izuku could see it in his eyes that the man was once again testing his resolve. Thinking back to the previous day, he recalled how he was able to lift the heavy machine for a brief time.

He tightened his hands on the paper, determined to meet All Might's expectations. "I was going to ask you for a new regime anyway. I can handle it," he said with a firm nod.

All Might grinned. "That's the spirit my boy! Now, start running!"

"E-eh? Right now?"

All Might was already stretching. "Of course! Come, I'll run with you." With that, he took off. Izuku stood there dumbfounded. Even in his non-muscle form, All Might was surprisingly fast.

"W-Wait for me!" Izuku scrambled after his mentor, pushing the sheet of paper in his hand into his **[Inventory]**.

Izuku collapsed on his bed later that evening. The first day of his new training had been brutal. He had barely finished the run and All Might had him running sprints and doing cart wheels after that. He was exhausted by the time he finished and the older man had then enthusiastically proceeded to direct him to clean the garbage. To add salt to the wound, All Might didn't seem to have broken a sweat when he trained alongside Izuku.

He glanced at the clock, groaning as he saw there was still quite some time before dinner.

 **:: Ding! ::**

 **Clock is now added to your [HUD]!**

Izuku stared at the notification. When All Might said that his quirk would be improving, this was not what he expected. It was a trivial but useful addition. At least he didn't have to wear a watch from now on. He already broke two during training.

Swiping the notification away, he slowly got up despite the ache in his muscles. He had resolved not to slack off after all and it was time to catch up on his studies.

* * *

A week into his new training, he received another notification that surprised him.

 **:: Ding! ::**

 **Due to a healthy diet and constant exercise, +30 HP, +50 STM**

He blinked at the notification, not expecting something like this to happen.

"What is it Midoriya? Why did you stop," All Might jogged up to him.

"Ah, I got a notification. My **HP** and **STM** have increased," he answered, swiping the box away. To All Might it must have seemed like he was waving at the air.

All Might raised an eyebrow. "Correct me if I'm wrong but don't you usually have to invest **Skill Points** in games to improve those?"

"Yeah, that's right," Izuku confirmed. "Now I know why these two were listed with my other stats like **STR** and **INT**."

All Might nodded. "That means your quirk doesn't function _exactly_ like a video game. Fortunately, that eliminates quite a few problems that I was afraid of."

"Like what?"

"Well most RPG games restrict your character build if you spread out your stats correct? By allowing you to improve your stats without investing points, including your **HP** and **STM** , your quirk doesn't limit you to a specific build like say, a tank or a mage. With a high enough **HP** and **STM** , you could be both, in gaming terms of course."

Izuku stared at All Might in surprise. Just two weeks ago the man barely knew about gaming and now he was throwing words like tank and mage around.

"…I picked up some video games so that I can help you better," All Might explained. "Some of them are surprisingly good."

Izuku laughed, imagining All Might in his muscle form with a tiny controller in his hands. It would make for a comical sight he was sure, All Might frowning in concentration and cursing at the screen in frustration.

"Right, that's enough running. Go clean up." All Might waved him off.

 **+1 STR, +1DEX, +1 SPD**

The notifications faded and Izuku idly noted that the broken engine in his arms became a tiny bit less heavy. He deposited it in the garbage truck, turning around to see All Might looking at the cleaned portion of the shore.

"You're making quite the progress," All Might observed. "Just six months ago you could barely move a thing."

Izuku shrugged. "The training's paying off," he said.

All Might turned around to face him and shook his head. "No, I mean you're getting better at this faster and faster," he explained. "I can see a marked improvement from two weeks ago when you got your quirk and now." He waved at the portion of the beach Izuku had cleaned since he obtained his quirk.

Izuku had to admit, he'd cleared a lot more than he expected to in two weeks. "My… stats are affecting me real time. My **STR** has increased by three in two weeks and it's easier to lift heavier things now."

All Might thought about this for a few seconds. "Could it be that your quirk doesn't just monitor your stats but also speeds up their improvement?"

"My thoughts exactly," Izuku said, nodding. "I don't know if there's a threshold for this. I mean, it's easy to increase your stats in games if you're low leveled."

All Might sighed, sitting down. "Are there any actual drawbacks to your quirk that you've observed?"

Izuku sat down as well, glad for the break he was getting. "Yeah, I don't have any combat useful skills yet and my **STM** regeneration sucks," he said grimacing.

"How much is it at now?"

"Right now, it's at one per two seconds," he said, rolling his head to relieve some of the tension on his neck. "Jogging consumes about half **STM** per second but sprinting at full speed consumes five **STM** per second."

"I see. So based on your current **STM** , you have to wait about eight minutes to regain your full STM after a full sprint," All Might observed.

"Yeah. I can go in bursts but I doubt that'll be effective if I get into a long fight."

All Might chuckled. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's a long way to go before you actually get into any fights."

"I guess you're right," Izuku agreed with a sheepish smile. He hadn't even gotten into U.A yet.

"Now go along. Your exams are coming up aren't they? Better not lag behind," All Might said, dismissing Izuku.

Izuku got up and dusted himself off.

"Don't worry, I got that covered. **[Inventory]**!"

From his inventory, he dragged his school uniform to his 3D model and he felt it replacing the track suit on his body.

"That's… convenient," All Might observed with a wide eyed stare.

Izuku grinned. "You have no idea." He swiped at the inventory and started heading home. "Good bye All Might."

* * *

The training continued for almost three more months. Izuku's initial trouble adjusting to the new training had not gone away easily. Every day he would train, clean up, go home eat and sleep. He barely had enough time to study but he forced himself to do it. Catching up on his studies proved to be useful as it improved his **INT** by quite a bit. The only way to improve his **WIS** he observed, was doing his homework. If anything, his teachers did not make it easy for him to think of answers.

Izuku grinned in anticipation as he approached the beach. By his estimate, if he pushed himself, he would be able to finish the task that day. Depositing all the items on his **[Inventory]** on the ground, he set to work. He would need all the space he could get.

He marveled at the ease with which he could move heavier things now. His significant improvement in strength was apparent as he moved the washing machine to the garbage truck. It was still heavy, but he could now lift it without too much strain. He eyed his **[Vital Bars]** as he dumped the machine.

 **HP: 360/360**

 **STM: 280/310**

He grinned. He was right about his **STM** consumption reducing while lifting if his **STR** improved. Whereas three months ago it had taken a significant portion of his **STM** to just lift the machine, now he was able to carry it to the truck for a lesser amount.

"Looks like you're done."

Izuku turned around to see All Might with a huge smile on his face. Behind him, the shore was spotless. Nothing was left as far as his eyes could see.

"I-I guess I am huh?"

All Might nodded, the smile turning into a grin. "Look at that Midoriya," he said gesturing to the shore. "The fruits of _your_ labor."

Izuku took a moment to admire his work. The setting sun was shining brightly on the shore, bringing a shine to the beach that he had never seen in all his time in the town. The waves crashed along the shore uninterrupted, no obstacle in its path. With a clear sky, he could actually see birds flying overhead, something which he had never seen when the beach was full of junk.

"This is your doing," All Might said. Izuku snapped out of his stupor to look at him.

"This place is once again beautiful because you took the effort to clean it up," he continued. "This is what we work for, my boy. As heroes, that is all we do. In the end, we try to clean up when it gets dirty and keep the world beautiful. This," he said, waving at the clean beach," is just an example. You have accomplished something in trying to become a hero. Look."

All Might pointed at a small group of people in the distance, playing in the waves.

"They are able to enjoy this because you worked hard. Never forget this."

Suddenly, Izuku realized why All Might had picked this particular place to train him. Not only was it to training him physically it was also to make him understand what it felt like to accomplish something. He had to admit, he did feel quite proud having accomplished this task.

 **:: Quest Completed: Clean Up! ::**

Izuku was startled by the notification that he took a step back.

 **800 EXP gained!**

 **Level Up!**

 **+10 Skill Points!**

He smiled and closed the notification, only for another to pop up.

 **Congratulations, you have completed your first quest and reached level 5!**

 **Reward: New Skill [Pull]!**

He stared at the notification for a few seconds, his mind slowly comprehending the words in from of him. _He had acquired a new skill._

"Hell yes!" he whispered, unable to contain his excitement.

"Pardon?" All Might was looking down at him with a strange look on his face.

Izuku straightened, swiping the notification away. "S-Sorry All Might," he said, bowing. "I completed the quest! I leveled up!"

All Might laughed. "Congratlations, young Midoriya! You did it with three weeks to spare to boot. I'll have to think of a new training plan for you."

"W-Wait! That's not all. I got a new skill. I think it's my mother's quirk!"

"What? Your mother's… quirk?" All Might asked him in confusion.

Izuku nodded excitedly. "Yeah, **[Pull]**. That's what it said."

"I see," All Might said, frowning. "Can I see it?"

Izuku's smile dropped a bit at that. "Actually, if you don't mind, is it okay if I show my mother first?"

All Might nodded in understanding. "Of course, no problem," he said. "Why don't you come back tomorrow and we'll discuss how to proceed."

Izuku nodded enthusiastically and ran off, not even bothering to change his track suit and throwing a hasty 'Good bye' over his shoulder.

All Might stared at his retreating back, a strange smile on his face. "A quirk that gives you a quirk huh? Who would've thought?"

* * *

Izuku burst into his house, startling Inko who was quietly enjoying a cup of tea.

"Izuku! You're early today," she said looking at her stained clothes. "Don't startle me like that. You made me spill my tea."

"Mom!"

Inko looked up to see her son's excited face, the smile threatening to split his face.

"What is it sweety?"

"You wouldn't believe what just happened," Izuku said, moving closer to his mother.

"What happened," Inko asked, tilting her head in confusion. In response, Izuku looked around, noticing the television remote at the far end of the room.

Frowning in concentration, he held out his hand to the device. " **[Pull]!** " he called.

The remote floated to his outstretched hand steadily, just like what his mother's quirk could do. He turned back to look at her and laughed at the dumbfounded expression on her face.

"You- You got my quirk?"

"I got your quirk," he confirmed, nodding excitedly.

Inko squealed, latching on to his neck and embracing him tightly.

"You got my quirk!" she scremed.

Izuku could only laugh, hugging her back.

 **Midoriya Izuku** :: **5** ::

 **Quirk : The Gamer (One For All)**

 **EXP : 200/1000**

 **:: Stats ::**

 **HP : 360/360**

 **STM : 310/310**

 **STR : 17**

 **DEX : 11**

 **INT : 17**

 **WIS : 18**

 **SPD: 14**

 **Unspent points : 10**

 **:: Passive stats ::**

 **DEF : 0**

 **LUK: 15**

 **:: Skills ::**

 **[Observe ] (Passive)** **Lv. 3/?**

 **[Pull] (Active) Lv. 1/?**

* * *

 **A/N: Izuku steadily improves and acquires a new skill. I meant what I said about him having a limited number of skills, [Pull] being one of them. It only seemed logical for him to have that as his first skill because I see it as a kind of way of inheriting from his mother. More will be explained in the next chapter.**

 **Also, any criticism regarding my writing is hugely appreciated. Is the pacing not good? Are character interactions not proper? Am I delving into game mechanics too much? Any criticism, good or bad would be a huge help to me.**

 **Comments and reviews appreciated.**


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